Exclusive Spin: Battersby Takes Bronze — Franklin

It’s not yet been a year since Detroit band Battersby Takes Bronze released their The Whole Way Home EP, but the post-rock quartet has a new song, “Franklin,” for your ears today. It’s similar to last year’s output, but the sound is so much more polished, allowing the ebb and flow dynamics to really power through your headphones. We talked with the band’s Scott Kirschner via email to get the scoop on the new tune and future plans, and you can read that after taking a listen to “Franklin” below.

MV: How long has Battersby Takes Bronze been together?

Scott Kirschner: We have been playing music together since we were 15. That’s 11 years, but this project has been going on for a little over two years. We started just jamming after work, fiddling with Midwest emo songs at our house and were offered to play a show before we had any real song finished. So we cracked down, whipped up a 25-minute set in a week, played the show and kept on moving forward as a new band.

MV: Has the lineup changed a bunch over time?

SK: We were a 3 piece for over a year. But Sam and I played guitar together on too many tracks, which left an empty feeling sometimes during live performances. Arman joined to give us a fuller sound, filling in the bass and guitar. Josh is on the drums mostly now, but we used to switch instruments nearly every track live. That was a lot of fun, but we learned that sound engineers aren’t too happy with that. So we started sticking to our instruments a little more.

MV: How was the recording process for this different than your EP, “The Whole Way Home”? It sounds a little more polished.

SK: We recorded the EP and this new single the same way. What was different was the production. We record at our home in Detroit, but for The Whole Way Home, I mixed the tracks myself. Let’s just say my skills are subpar there :P. We had a professional mix and master this track to give it a more polished feel.

MV: “Franklin” is part of a new EP, if I’m not mistaken. Is there something appealing to releasing EPs, rather than LPs? I know some artists like to release EPs, because it allows for new music to get to their fans while it’s still fresh.

SK: “Franklin” will be put on an EP as soon as we finish recording and mixing it. One of the nice parts about independently releasing music is that you’re not tied down to a specific timeline. That gives us more time to write and record. We all do this as a project we love, but we have to balance it with our 9 to 5s.

So, we pretty much have been tying EPs to what the music has been sounding like during a time. Then we can record and move on to our next evolving sound. The tracks off of our upcoming release have a different vibe than The Whole Way Home. We have every intention to put out an LP when we have time and enough similar material.

MV: It seems like early Modest Mouse is a pretty strong touchstone for the band, but what else do you all draw from, musically?

SK: I’m really happy you were able to pick up on MM as an influence. For Sam and Scott, that is where a lot of our playing stemmed from in high school. For Battersby, I had been listening to a lot of midwest emo and shoegaze when we started, and Sam was into making indie guitar riffs with beautiful chords. That combination led to a lot of the songs we made where Sam created the rhythm, I played a lead over it and Josh would play a drum beat that matched the style of the song.

Moving forward, Josh and Arman brought a funk and rock vibe. Arman also brought an electronic background to the mix which has made us more poppy. Some really cool stuff is coming up, and we have never been more excited to write new material. The mix of all of our very different influences has made this project turn into something new all the time.

Nick Spacek
Nick Spacek was once a punk, but realized you can’t be hardcore and use the word “adorable” as often as he does. Nick is a self-described “rock star journalist,” which is strange, considering he’s married with four cats and usually goes to bed by 9. This is just further proof that you can’t trust anyone online.